A handset may be a mobile phone, a telephone, a wireless communication device, a pager, a personal digital assistant, a portable computer, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a digital camera, a digital music player, a digital calculator, an electronic key fob for keyless entry, a media player, or an inventory control device. A handset user may use a handset to both send email and text messages and to receive email and text messages, which may include the receipt of spam.
Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems, including most broadcast mediums and digital delivery systems, by sending unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media, such as instant messaging spam and mobile phone messaging spam. Spamming remains economically viable because advertisers have few operating costs beyond the management of their distribution lists, and it is difficult to hold senders accountable for their mass messages. Because the barrier to entry is so low, spammers are numerous and the volume of unsolicited messages has become very high. The costs, such as lost productivity and fraud, are borne by the public and by communication service providers, which have been forced to add extra capacity to cope with the deluge. Spamming is widely reviled, and has been the subject of legislation in many jurisdictions.